ECB wants IPL early to allow its players to participate

The England cricket board (ECB) wants the Indian T20 league to be advanced by a month to allow its players to feature in it, a media report said. The Times reported that the ECB CEO, David Collier, met BCCI officials in India last week to seek a reschedule following pressure from the England players, who have been unhappy to be left out of the cash-rich league due to a clash of first-class and national duties.

Test stumper Matt Prior, who did not attract a bid in the 2013 auction, was among those players to openly complain.

Collier, the report said, wants the league to end by April 30, before England's international schedule kicks off in mid-May. "There is a willingness on the part of both boards to see if we can make any progress."

The talks apparently came as ECB re-negotiate the value of central player contracts. The players' union wants the board to compensate its players for non-appearance in the league while Australian players have more opportunities. However there appears little scope for the league to end early in the next three years. The World T20 in Bangladesh is scheduled from March 16 to April 6 in 2014, the 2015 World Cup is likely to run from February to March end and the 2016 World T20 is scheduled to run in India until mid-April.